Remember when you had to piece together a weed control program? Trait technology is great, but over reliance has resulted in resistance issues and the need for a plan to preserve existing technology.
“It’s not an easy thing to give up the convenience of just depending on one product,” says Brent Philbrook, Bayer CropScience product development manager. “There’s also a whole generation of growers that have come to depend on glyphosate, so there’s a learning curve.”
Philbrook says weed control no longer means simply spraying to control the entire weed spectrum. Today’s growers are being forced to go back to basics and create a strategy to keep weed pressure in check. “For some it feels a little like going back to a stick shift after you’ve had automatic transmission,” he says.
A more managed approach to weed control includes understanding your entire cropping system and how the products available today fit into a sustainable program, says Philbrook. It also means understanding what weed are in the field.
Listen in as Philbrook explains what it takes to become a weed manager:
